In a modern market economy, staying afloat and successfully operating in the market is not an easy task for any company, no matter what it does. In order for the enterprise and its manufactured goods or services to be correctly positioned and presented to the consumer, the help of professionals is required.
Today's marketing is a real art. Specialists in this industry are able to sell anything. When it comes to a brand with a big name, marketers are developing a whole range of measures to promote it and are developing a brand platform. What is this marketing tool, what are its components, and how it affects the company's position in the market, we will discuss below.
Brand platform: definition of a concept
Strategic planning is one of the central places in the marketing mix. To understand how to most effectively sell a particular product, or how to properly position the company itself, experts from analytics, promotion, and advertising departments accumulate their efforts. At the same time, it is important to study consumer demand, competitors' offer, and calculate the market capacity. These are the components of the external environment. And on the other hand, it is necessary in this way to formulate the concept of uniqueness of your own product so that the client has no doubts: your company is exactly what he needs.
The brand platform from a theoretical point of view means the combination of the properties and characteristics of a brand and everything connected with it. From the point of view of practical application, this is a document in which the company is considered for clearly defined points and positions.
Positions Reviewed by Marketers
So, the document provided by the marketing department to the management spells out the key points of the semantic field associated with the brand. Brand platform development takes into account the following aspects:
- The uniqueness of the product / service against the background of competing firms.
- Direct quality characteristics of the goods.
- Brand image.
- Features of the target audience.
- The philosophy and mission of the brand.
The description of all these categories implies a summary of the material in a concise form and usually does not take more than two or three sheets of printed text.
Advanced Marketing Plan
In addition to the document provided to the management, specialists of the respective departments study their areas of responsibility in detail and provide concepts, as a result of which the brand platform is formed.
Examples of companies that have successfully completed this task do not have to look long: these are world-famous corporations such as Procter & Gamble, Danone, Nestle and many others. These companies were able not only to resist in the domestic markets, but also to become transnational, which indicates the highest level of skill of the marketing specialists involved in the work.
So, what is included in the extended, detailed strategic plan and is part of the brand platform:
- Long-term strategy and goals of the company.
- The identity of the company.
- Visual attributes: logo, font, corporate identity.
- Corporate interests and values.
- Considering the brand in terms of the 4P marketing concept - the product itself and its characteristics, pricing, promotion and distribution channels.
As you can see, additional planning elements are no less important for the successful functioning of the company.
To analyze all the indicators and parameters described above is a very difficult and costly task. Without the involvement of qualified specialists in this industry, this is not possible. If the budget of the company allows you to maintain your own staff, a structured plan can be developed as soon as possible. In the case when there is not enough own staff, it makes sense to temporarily attract outside specialists.
What gives the brand platform in practice
Theoretically, understanding the concept under consideration is quite simple: all the components have long been clearly defined. But what are the practical advantages of the brand platform? The main advantages from its development and implementation are described below:
- Building the reputation of the company and strengthening consumer confidence in it. The brand is called precisely because it is not “one of the companies”, but unique, with a unique selling proposition.
- Profit increase due to sales growth and production optimization. When a company clearly knows its target audience with its needs and adequately evaluates its capacity, it does not produce too much and at the same time maximally satisfies the needs of the client.
- Resistance to crises. Systemic cyclical crises that can sweep small industries on their way to large brands with a developed platform bring only a minimum of losses. In addition, the strategic plan allows the company to recover in the shortest possible time and quickly reach the required profit level and continue to grow.
As you can see, the brand platform gives the company clear advantages over competitors, allowing it to expand production and maximize profits. If you have the necessary financial resources, this most important marketing component cannot be neglected.